Paul Gross, star of a
former Canadian television series that theater people revere to geek
levels, once starred as a Mountie in “Due South,” another TV series from
north of the border.

Art imitates life when Paul Gross of "Slings and Arrows" has a cameo in "Barney's Version"

Which brings us to “Barney’s Version,” the fine independent film that has extended its Muskegon run at the Harbor Theater.

Beyond cameo performances
by Gross and well-known Canadian directors Atom Egoyan and David
Cronenberg, “Barney’s Version” should serve as a cautionary tale, a
warning to those who are beginning to forget where we place our car keys
and eyeglasses.

In “Barney’s Version,”
Paul Giamatti stars a drunken Canadian TV hack who helms a soap opera in
which the lead character is a Mountie.

A film that will make you
laugh and cry, “Barney’s Version” gets serious when the aging title
character descends into the mental lapses of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Which brings us back to Paul Gross, who appears in a couple “Barney’s Version” scenes as “Constable O’Malley of the North.”

Extra Iddings first
encountered Gross when he (Gross, not me) athletically played the title
role in “Hamlet” at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. That
production mined the tragedy for every comedic possibility which it
director could find. The sight of Gross entering a scene by hurdling two
chairs is not one easily forgotten.

Gross revisited “Hamlet,” sort of, in “Slings and Arrows” which took it’s title from the most famous monologue in “Hamlet.”

“Slings and Arrows” began
the first of its three seasons in 2003. It still can occasionally be
seen in reruns on the Sundance Channel.

In “Slings and Arrows,”
Gross stars as Geoffrey Tennant, a stage director and former actor who
years before went insane while playing “Hamlet.”

The character nonetheless
ends up as artistic director of the fictional New Burbage Festival
where he went nuts. The festival’s blueprint obviously is Stratford
where numerous “Slings and Arrows” actors have honed their chops.

Drama denizens throughout
West Michigan find common ground in “Slings and Arrows.” Many of us own
all three seasons on DVD. Some of the more tanatic among us can recite
various dialogue verbatim.

I know, it’s weird.

But we’re theater people; what can you expect?

What you can expect of “Barney’s Version,” if you have not already treated yourself to it, is to be surprised.

Paul Giamatti won a Golden Globe Award as best actor for "Barney's Version." The film currently is playing in Muskegon at the Harbor Theater.

With great performances by
Giamatti, the delicious Rosamund Pike as his stunning third wife, and
Dustin Hoffman as his beloved ex-cop father, “Barney’s Version” is about
a lovable bounder who doesn’t take guff from anybody.

Woe be to any
father-in-law who disrespects Barney Panofsky’s pop, boychick. Barney’s a
guy who drunk dials his insults. He attracts women even though he’s
nothing special to look at. He blows off responsibilities so he can
watch hockey, and even hits on his next wife during his wedding
reception with his second (Minnie Driver).

As “Barney’s Version”
progresses, Barney deteriorates. A sad case, he thinks his car’s been
stolen even though it’s still in the parking garage where he moments ago
left it. He becomes enraged over the death of an artist friend, only to
be told he was the guy’s pallbearer the year before. Questioned by his
physician, Barney can remember only that his car is German, not the make
and model. Barney comes on to his last ex-wife, forgetting they are
divorced.

These scenes are sobering
to anyone who enters a room but can’t remember why, people who might
laugh out of discomfort and unease.

Movies have dealt with
Alzheimer’s before: Coming immediately to mind are “Iris” and “Away from
Her.” The latter won Julie Christie an Academy Award nomination, and
which was the feature-film directing debut of another “Slings and
Arrows” alum, Sarah Polley.

Like it or not, the road
downshill is out there, with no detour in sight. Someday, maybe any day
now, we are going to have to deal with it.

Enjoy the ride. Seeing “Barney’s Version” would be a great start.

And after you’ve seen it, quick: Did you spot how Barney’s blotto buddy Boogie (Scott Speedman) really died?